What are your impressions of the following baby names?

Question

We were leaning towards Ava for a girl but it was #5 on the Social Security Administration's 2006 baby names and we're not sure we want something that's so popular. My husband really likes John for a boy, but it sounds so common to me. What do you think of these ideas?

Arden
Ava
Aya (eye-uh)
Elle
Eve
Evelyn
Lila

Grant
John
Lou

Thanks!

Answer 1

you could mix it up avalyn or avah. eve is nice and i like grant . but naming you child something common could be a blessing for them people won't have to ask them how to spell their name or pronounce it wrong or make fun of them.

Answer 2

Any of those girl's names are fine with me. As for the boy's names, we considered Grant as a name but discarded it because it sounded too much like a joke. That's because it would have been paired with a last name that sounds like gazelle but is spelled differently. There is such an animal as a Grant's Gazelle. Anyway, we never used a boy's name because we had a girl. As for the name John, I knew a lot of them when I was growing up. It was the most popular man's name in the English-speaking world for over 400 years. It has only recently dropped out of the top 10. Lou would be fine but in my opinion, there should be a longer name to appear on the birth certificate but the child could go by the name Lou as a nickname. Good luck with your baby and the name you finally choose.

Answer 3

Arden- Not my style. Kind of hard sounding for a female.
Ava- A nice name (used to be a favorite) but I am just tired of seeing/hearing it.
Aya (eye-uh)- Not my style, but can I interest you in Isla (Eye-luh)?
Elle- Love this! Simple, sophisticated, glamorous.
Eve- Okay, but prefer more in the middle name spot.
Evelyn- Kind of boring to me.
Lila- Pretty!

Grant- Handsome.
John- Not bad. If you don't like this, how about you use it a middle name or nickname? Jonathan with the nickname John. Or you can use a similar sounding name: Jonah, Jonas. Some people named John even go by the nickname Jack. Maye John with nickname Jack pleases you?
Lou- Not my style, and too nicknamey. How about Louis nn Lou? I love Louis.

Overall favorites: Grant & Elle (Lila is a close second)

Answer 4

Arden- I think I recall hearing this name before; I don't really like it.

Ava- It sounds okay. That is also the name of Reese Whitherspoon's & Ryan Phillipe's daughter.

Aya- I give this name a thumbs down. It doesn't ring a good bell to me.

Elle- How about Ellen and Elle as a nickname?

Eve- A good Biblical name if that's what your going for.

Evelyn- I think it's alright.

Lila- I like this name; the name of an infant girl on General Hospital.

Grant- Don't really like it, but it does remind of General Grant.

John- I absolutely adore this name! This happens to be my favorite name for a boy. It's common, but it's okay if you use it. If you like, you can use the Juan, which is the Spanish equivalent; or like someone aboved mentioned, Giovanni, the Italian equivalent and so on.

Lou- How about Louis or Luis? I personally like Louis better.

Answer 5

I really like Ava and Elle the best out of the girl's names you have listed. And if you were to go with John because your husband likes it so much, maybe you would like Johnathan better, and that could be a compromise as you'd be able to call him John for short. Good luck with naming your baby, and hope all goes well for you!

Answer 6

Don't dismiss popular names. A few weird names I've come across include Abeus, Thorn, Creighton, Kaytaquana and Kryslyn. Some preschool classes' rolls read like characters from a Danielle Steele novel or Lord of the Rings screenplay. Forget Madison and Jayden entirely, every kindergarten class has 3 or 4. Naming a kid John isn't going to wreck his self esteem or individuality, I was made aware of a kid in my community whose name is Playville (I kid you not). Even the "trendy" names are repeated ad nauseum in the local paper.

Answer 7

Ava is definitely my favorite of the girl names, but it does seem to be somewhat popular these days. John is extremely common. Right off the top of my head I can name atleast 5.

Answer 8

I love all the girl's names. I don't hear Arden much, but I like it. Elle and Eve seem to be gaining more popularity too.
Pick names that you like, who cares if they are common or popular. You can choose another name to go with it, and spell it differently. You child will be unique and special, no matter what their name is!
I like John and Grant, but I'm not crazy about Lou.
Good Luck!

Answer 9

Those are all nice, acceptable, run of the mill, non embarrassing, MIDDLE names. They really are not that noticeable for first names. While you don't want your child's name to be too unique, boring is also not the way to go.

If you insist on using one of these as a fisrt name I would go with Lila / Lily and Grant.

Please stay away from Eve, Evelyn, Eva. It becomes Evil or Evil Lyn in the mouth of a bratty 8 year old. And no little girl wants to be called evil.

Answer 10

I am surprised that Ava is #5. I have not heard it much. It is very pretty. I have always liked the name Eve. Love the name Eden.
As for the boys names....John is much too common for me.
Lou sounds too old and Grant is just blah.
Go for Carson or McKay

Answer 11

My favorite from your girls list is Ava. It's feminine, and while not outrageous it isn't super common either. After that I like Evelyn, Lila, and Eve. Aya is okay and so is Elle. I don't like Arden at all.


My favorite of your boys list is Grant. I begged my husband to let me name our son Carter Grant, but he wouldn't and we ended up with Carter Joseph instead. It's a strong masculine name that won't sound silly when he's a grown man. John is okay, but I don't like Lou at all